Advancing Alternative Analysis: Integration of Decision Science.

Decision analysis-a systematic approach to solving complex problems-offers tools and frameworks to support decision making that are increasingly being applied to environmental challenges. Alternatives analysis is a method used in regulation and product design to identify, compare, and evaluate the safety and viability of potential substitutes for hazardous chemicals.Assess whether decision science may assist the alternatives analysis decision maker in comparing alternatives across a range of metrics.A workshop was convened that included representatives from government, academia, business, and civil society and included experts in toxicology, decision science, alternatives assessment, engineering, and law and policy. Participants were divided into two groups and prompted with targeted questions. Throughout the workshop, the groups periodically came together in plenary sessions to reflect on other groups' findings.We conclude the further incorporation of decision science into alternatives analysis would advance the ability of companies and regulators to select alternatives to harmful ingredients, and would also advance the science of decision analysis.We advance four recommendations: (1) engaging the systematic development and evaluation of decision approaches and tools; (2) using case studies to advance the integration of decision analysis into alternatives analysis; (3) supporting transdisciplinary research; and (4) supporting education and outreach efforts

Analisis Kesesuaian (Three Angle Fit) antara Program, Manajemen dan Anggota dalam Meningkatkan Partisipasi Anggota pada Koperasi Pengemudi Taksi (Kopsi) Pekanbaru

Conformity (Three Angel Fit) between program management and members explained the quality level of participation of members of a cooperative. The purpose of this study was to determine the suitability (Three Angle Fit) between programs, management and members in improving the participation of members in the Cooperative Taxi driver (Kopsi) Pekanbaru. The data analysis technique used is quantitative descriptive method. The survey results revealed there is conformance (Three angle fit) program, the management and members in improving partiisipasi cooperative members on taxi drivers. With the average percentage of Three angle fit (three conformity) in this study was 94.7% including the appropriate category and yield enough percentage of member participation in cooperative taxi drivers (Kopsi) already is high that the average total amount that is equal to 96 , 1%

An integrated discrete event simulation and particle swarm optimisation model for optimising efficiency of cancer diagnosis pathways

The National Health Service (NHS) constitution sets out minimum standards for rights of access of patients to NHS services. The ‘Faster Diagnosis Standard’ (FDS) states that 75% of patients should be told whether they have a diagnosis of cancer or not within 28 days of an urgent GP referral. Timely diagnosis and treatment lead to improved outcomes for cancer patients, however, compliance with these standards has recently been challenged, particularly in the context of operational pressures and resource constraints relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to minimise diagnostic delays, the National Physical Laboratory in collaboration with the Royal Free London (RFL) NHS Foundation Trust address this problem by treating it as a formal resource optimisation, aiming to minimise the number of patients who breach the FDS. We use discrete event simulation and particle swarm optimisation to identify areas for improving the efficiency of cancer diagnosis at the RFL. We highlight capacity-demand mismatches in the current cancer diagnosis pathways at the RFL, including imaging and endoscopy investigations. This is due to the volume of patients requiring these investigations to meet the 28-day FDS target. We find that increasing resources in one area alone does not fully solve the problem. By looking at the system as a whole we identify areas for improvement which will have system-wide impact even though individually they do not necessarily seem significant. The outcomes and impact of this project have the potential to make a valuable impact on shaping future hospital activity

"Where the mask ends and the face begins is not certain": Mediating ethnicity and cheating geography in Jonny Steinberg's Little Liberia

Mixing historical commentary, reportage, biography and personal stories, South African writer Jonny Steinberg takes up the tale of a fractured African nation and its diaspora in Little Liberia: An African Odyssey in New York City (2011). The "little Liberia" founded in New York's urban jungle may have represented, for many of its inhabitants, a way to "cheat geography" by recreating a home away from home, but Little Liberia shows the reader it has not allowed them to cheat history. The book deals with the lives of two inhabitants of Park Hill Avenue on Staten Island, where nearly everyone is Liberian. Their conflict threatens to implode the community, igniting suspicions and accusations that had been bottled up since their exile. The article focuses on the interface of mediated ethnicity and citizenship related to the struggle for power in the diasporic Liberian community on Staten Island. Attention is also paid to feelings of identity of Little Liberia's author.DHE

Fluid Flow Property Estimation from Seismic Scattering Data

We present a methodology for relating seismic scattering signals from fractures to the fluid permeability field of the fracture network. The workflow is used to interpret seismic scattering signals for the reservoir permeability of the Emilio Field in the Adriatic Sea.Eni-MIT Energy Initiative Founding Member Progra

A Swing-Contract Market Design for Flexible Service Provision in Electric Power Systems

The need for flexible service provision in electric power systems has dramatically increased due to the growing penetration of variable energy resources, as has the need to ensure fair access and compensation for this provision. A swing contract (SC) facilitates flexible service provision because it permits multiple service attributes to be offered together in bundled form with each attribute expressed as a range of possible values rather than as a single point value. This paper discusses a new SC Market Design for electric power systems that permits SCs to be offered by any dispatchable resource. An analytical optimization formulation is developed for the clearing of an SC day-ahead market that can be implemented using any standard mixed integer linear programming (MILP) solver. The practical feasibility of the optimization formulation is demonstrated by means of a numerical example

Raising the participation age in historical perspective : Policy learning from the past?

The raising of the participation age (RPA) to 17 in 2013 and 18 in 2015 marks a historic expansion of compulsory education. Despite the tendency of New Labour governments to eschew historical understanding and explanation, RPA was conceived with the benefit of an analysis of previous attempts to extend compulsion in schooling. This paper assesses the value of a historical understanding of education policy. The period from inception to the projected implementation of RPA is an extended one which has crossed over the change of government, from Labour to Coalition, in 2010. The shifting emphases and meanings of RPA are not simply technical issues but connect to profound historical and social changes. An analysis of the history of the raising of the school leaving age reveals many points of comparison with the contemporary situation. In a number of key areas it is possible to gain insights into the ways in which the study of the past can help to comprehend the present: the role of human capital, the structures of education, in curriculum development and in terms of preparations for change

Economic liberalization and the antecedents of top management teams: evidence from Turkish 'big' business

There has been an increased interest in the last two decades in top management teams (TMTs) of business firms. Much of the research, however, has been US-based and concerned primarily with TMT effects on organizational outcomes. The present study aims to expand this literature by examining the antecedents of top team composition in the context of macro-level economic change in a late-industrializing country. The post-1980 trade and market reforms in Turkey provided the empirical setting. Drawing upon the literatures on TMT and chief executive characteristics together with punctuated equilibrium models of change and institutional theory, the article develops the argument that which firm-level factors affect which attributes of TMT formations varies across the early and late stages of economic liberalization. Results of the empirical investigation of 71 of the largest industrial firms in Turkey broadly supported the hypotheses derived from this premise. In the early stages of economic liberalization the average age and average organizational tenure of TMTs were related to the export orientation of firms, whereas in later stages, firm performance became a major predictor of these team attributes. Educational background characteristics of teams appeared to be under stronger institutional pressures, altering in different ways in the face of macro-level change